This disclosure relates to an alignment system for a machine. More particularly, the disclosure relates to an alignment tool for aligning a machine relative to a workpiece.
Robots are widely used in industry for a variety of purposes. It is desirable to increase the use of robots in the aerospace industry, in particular, for very difficult and labor intensive tasks. However, for some tasks in particular, the application of robots is limited by the accuracy of the robot's alignment with a workpiece. For example, a typical alignment specification is a +/−2 degree orientation of the robot end effector relative to the workpiece.
It is desirable to use robots, for example, to shot peen or grit blast parts such as turbine blades, for example. For one example shot peening process, a typical distance for which the robot's end effector would need to traverse the workpiece, the +/−2 degree alignment would result in the end effector drifting off of the workpiece. Accordingly, each workpiece would need to be inspected to identify potential locations that were missed, requiring the workpiece to be manually reworked.
What is needed is a system and method of ensuring robot alignment relative to the workpiece that is sufficient to maintain desired orientation of the end effector and its tool relative to the workpiece.